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He's good looking and drives fast cars for a living: it must be great to be Lewis Hamilton.

His mantelpiece is one to be envious of too. If it's not already buckled under the weight of his countless trophies.

This year he won a third Formula 1 title to become only the second British man after Sir Jackie Stewart to achieve the feat.

The driver, from Hertfordshire, edged out team-mate Nico Rosberg with a thrilling United States Grand Prix victory, his 10th of the campaign.

Hamilton passed Ayrton Senna's mark of 41 career race wins, and joined his childhood hero by winning three championships.

All in a year's work for Lewis, who is looking to repeat last year's SPOTY win. Voting details here.

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Barcelona were kings of Europe after beating Juventus in the Champions League final.

That completed a treble, having won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, as Lionel Messi & co proved almost untouchable,

Bayern Munich won a league and cup double in Germany, while in France Paris St-Germain won all three domestic trophies.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or world footballer of the year award for the second year in a row.  

A golfing superstar was born in 2015. Well, strictly speaking, Jordan Spieth was born in 1993 (doesn't that make you feel old?).

The Texan won the first two Majors of the year - the Masters and US Open - to fulfill the promise of his teenage years.

Another American, Zach Johnson, won The Open while Jason Day, of Australia, lifted the PGA Championship.

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Annabel Croft
Former British tennis number one on Radio 5 live

"It's surprising in terms of the exhaustion you feel after a baby - the sleepless nights - and then finding the motivation to pick herself back up and find her highest level."

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Headline writers called it the "mother of all comebacks" as Jessica Ennis-Hill won her second world heptathlon title in August 13 months after the birth of her son Reggie.

She had only decided to compete in Beijing the previous month, having returned to training in the autumn of 2014.

It was the first time in three years she had competed at a major championships in the event which consists of the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin throw and 800m.

Impressive stuff, eh? Ennis-Hill is, of course, one of our contenders tonight.

Voting details here.

"We fought for every inch. We left it all on the battlefield."

Not our words, but those of Adam Peaty.  This year, Peaty won gold in the 50m breaststroke to become the first man to complete the 50m and 100m double at the World Swimming Championships.

He then helped Great Britain win the mixed 4x100m medley relay gold in a world record time in Kazan.

Peaty, who trains in Derby, has been tipped to be the first British man for 28 years to win Olympic swimming gold at Rio 2016.

Not bad for a man who was once scared of getting in the bath. As a child, of course.

Voting details here.

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Chris Froome is speaking to the SPOTY crowd via a video because he became a dad earlier this week. Aww.

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On to another contender for the main prize tonight - voting details here.

Chris Froome became the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice when he ignored accusations of doping and abuse from the crowd to win in Paris at the end of the three-week race.  

Other notable achievements include Sir Bradley Wiggins breaking the hour record, a mark that had been set in May by fellow Briton Alex Dowsett.

Spain's Alberto Contador won the Giro d'Italia title, becoming just the second man to win all three Grand Tours at least twice, while Italian Fabio Aru has won the Vuelta a Espana.

Well done to Ellie. The 16-year-old from Nottingham won bronze in the all-around at the European Championships - the first female gymnast to win an individual all-around medal for Great Britain, in her first senior year.

Ellie is the younger sister of Team GB Olympian Becky Downie. Ellie's commitment to her education led her to achieve 5 GCSEs at A-C, while competing internationally winning multiple medals in various competitions.

In doing so, she secured a place at her first-choice sixth-form college. Alongside sister Becky, Ellie also regularly hosts training sessions at her gymnastics club where children get the chance to train with her.

She looks to have a very bright future in sport. Previous winners of this award include footballer Wayne Rooney, diver Tom Daley and tennis player Andy Murray. Not bad company to be keeping.

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The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year is Ellie Downie.

Carl Frampton and Dina Asher-Smith step up to present the evening's first award to a very talented young sportsperson.

2015 was a mixed year for the British Modern Pentathlon team. 

Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and team-mate Jamie Cooke won season-opening World Cup titles in Florida, but would miss out on World Championship honours.

Bath hosted the European Championships in August and whilst Murray, Kate French and Joe Choong secured Rio Olympic berths for GB, the squad’s only medal success came in the women’s team competition. 

The combined scores of Murray, French and Freyja Prentice secured them gold, but it was in a non-Olympic event.

This is worth a watch...

My money's on Max Whitlock after that little routine on the piano/stage.

John Inverdale
BBC Radio 5 live presenter

"Whitlock's just showing off, Adam Peaty can't exactly swim into the arena can he?"

Libby Dawes
BBC Sport Online

Gary got a boo boo...   

We did tell you earlier, Gary had somehow cut his hand...

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Max Whitlock is performing some gymnastics on a piano. Sensational moves.

He's owning the dancefloor now with some break dancing.

Wow. Just wow.